Posted on 04/12/2019 9:29:58 AM PDT by EveningStar
“340”
Sorry, 25 days short. Have to do it again.
Gee what a shock. /sarcasm
“Space. The final frontier...”
“Great for getting there. But, then there are issues being in 1/6 Earth’s gravity once you stay there for long periods.”
There is nothing preventing the use of “artificial gravity” on the moon or small planets. You wouldn’t be able to explore in that environment, but places to sleep, eat, etc. could be built that uses the same science.
Interesting to think of.
Are you thinking of a vertical or horizontal centrifuge-like living environment? Hard to imagine how a horizontal would deal with the constant vertical 1/6-g, or how a vertical would deal with +1/6-g on the down swing and -1/6-g on the upswing.
No substitute for gravity........
Look at how many Bowflex's are for sale on Craig's List.........
Kelly's problems were due to a year of negative gravity and that's the major factor to overcome in extended space flight that would take us to the stars...........
Mars' gravity is only 38% that of earth so the human body could handle that for an extended period of time.......but there would be muscle degeneration that would have to be regained upon return to earth. And the older the astronaut, the harder for that to happen........
The path of motion would have to be horizontal in order to create a constant “pull”. Think of how amusement park rides create G-forces. These are generally not constant, but a merry-go-round is probably the closest thing.
Housing or workspaces would probably be something similar to an amusement park ride, with rooms at the ends of extended arms that revolve around a central axis at a constant rate when occupied. They would most likely be slowed down and stopped for coming and going.
In order to make a dwelling have constant artificial gravity, the floors would need to be offset (tilted slightly upward) to create a leveling effect. The path of motion would still form a ring that revolves around an axis, but the floors would not be completely parallel to this axis. A “ride” would probably just have rooms that have a low center of gravity and tilt in order to feel level.
Whether on the ground or in outer space, artificial gravity created by spinning (or other curved trajectory of motion) is not precisely the same as actual gravity. It creates the Coriolis effect.
So, in other words, you would not be able to play golf, basketball, ping pong, etc. without objects following an unusual trajectory. In most cases it would probably take getting use to things like pouring liquids. It would be similar to trying to pour something in a strong wind except it would not scatter the liquid.
This effect can be minimized by causing the path of motion to curve over a wider distance, but this requires greater velocity to create the same amount of artificial gravity. A maglev train with a very long track that forms a complete circle seems ideal to me.
“Kelly’s problems were due to a year of negative gravity and that’s the major factor to overcome in extended space flight that would take us to the stars.”
Any such extended trip would take many years of travel (under our current knowledge of physics). Presumably it would be desirable to accelerate the spacecraft at a constant rate which would be indistinguishable from actual gravity. If, at the midpoint of such a trip, the spacecraft is rotated 180 degrees and begins to decelerate at the same rate, there would be constant gravity for nearly the entire trip. So, the real challenge is supplying the power to create a constant acceleration and deceleration over such a long distance.
“Mars’ gravity is only 38% that of earth so the human body could handle that for an extended period of time.......but there would be muscle degeneration that would have to be regained upon return to earth.”
Living and work spaces could be designed to create artificial gravity to avoid this problem. This would be no small undertaking though.
The future Martians aren’t coming back. We’ll be divergent species.
humans are meant to explore and colonize. We also need to. Remember every time we explored new area human basic freedoms soon followed. While the place we left always were left in the hands of tyrants.
Robots can Tunnel on the moon or Mars. At the right depths we will be out of the radiation and have plenty of heat for plants and animals.
They obviously did not test for a significant decrease in cognitive functioning.
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